Will the Real Men Please Stand Up! -Pastor Scott L. Harris, June 15, 2008. There are many ideas about what it means to be a real man. Pastor Harris exposes the false ideas promoted by our society and gives a clear Biblical description of manliness.

A Dad's Involvement - Father's Day Message - June 17, 2007.

Every dad will leave a legacy. The question is simply what will that legacy be? Those who follow God's design for the family will leave a legacy of blessing not only to the descendant, but to all society as well. Those that do not leave a curse to both. In this sermon Pastor Harris traces the responsibilities God has given to dads in 1) loving their family;  2) providing for them what they really need, not want; 3) Teaching them through instruction, example and discipline.

The Incredible Worth of a Woman

 This sermon addresses  the incredible worth a woman has in simply being a woman by God's design.and apart from those things valued in this society due to feminist influence. Feminism has been detrimental to women due to its preference for male rather than female qualities. The woman that seeks to fulfill God's design for her as a woman and as an individual has a worth that is inestimable.

The Characteristics of a Godly Woman

Selected Scriptures

Happy Mothers Day to you. We are glad that our society has designated a day to recognize the importance of motherhood. Perhaps that is even more important in an age when political feminism belittles motherhood and what is actually feminine on a daily basis. They disdain those whom who focus their attention and place their priority on their children and homes. Such women are failures in their eyes, though I have seen articles by feminists in recent years in which at least a few of them finally understand the major flaws in their philosophy of life. They have entered into their 50's with solid careers behind them, but with great loneliness and sense of failure. They have either never been married or only had a string of failed marriages behind them. In addition, they often do not have any children, or if they do they are often estranged from them because feminism teaches selfishness and independence both of which eat away at the parent / child relationship. From my own point of view, they could not be too happy about the overall damage they have done to our society.

Feminism may have failed to recognize the importance of motherhood, but we have not. The family is foundational to society and through their influence on their children, mothers set and keep the culture for a society.

They say that man is mighty,

He governs land and sea;

He wields a mighty scepter

On lower powers than he,

But mightier power & stronger

Man from his throne has hurled,

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world"

Thank you ladies for your selfless sacrifice for the welfare of your family and for our society.

The Few. The Proud. That is the current recruiting slogan for the U.S. Marine Corps, but being a bit older, I will always associate the Marines with, Looking for a Few Good Men. It is not that the Marines required these recruits to already meet the Marine standard, but that the recruit was willing to go through what would be needed to make them into those "Few Good Men." To be a Marine, you have to learn self discipline, submission to authority, commitment, endurance, loyalty, integrity. Each of those are qualities that should be in any man, not just Marines. The tragedy is that it does end up being the few, not the many, that meet the standard.

 

Something that I have noticed over the years, and perhaps you have also noticed the same thing, is that our society no longer looks at motherhood the way that it did when I was a kid. Back in the 50's and 60's, society respected motherhood, and mothers were proud of their role in the home and in society. In current times, there is a serious question in the minds of many whether being a mom is a blessing or a curse. What are some of the reasons for these changes?

 

One of the greatest areas of human pride is a parent over their children. I have met adults that can accept criticism in any other area that will not accept any criticism of their children. My friends, Gary & Ann Marie Ezzo, who founded and lead Growing Families International and whose material most of today’s sermon is based, have received severe and unjust criticism and condemnation over the years from folks who, from my view, do not like their parenting practices challenged. Some of them do not like the idea that they carry responsibility for the kind of adult their child becomes. Others react strongly because their area of greatest pride, their children, has been challenged. With that in mind, it is always with some trepidation that I venture into the area of child rearing, yet like the Ezzo’s, regardless of what reaction I receive, it is more important that the principles of God’s word be proclaimed concerning how we raise our children.

 

Last week we began looking at Ephesians 6:4 and the role of parents in the family, but we only got as far as the second word, "fathers." We must take seriously the responsibilities God has entrusted to us in giving us children. The task is something that is utterly beyond you or me, but with God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit, our children can be brought up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. It is also so good to know that when I fail in carrying out all the Lord's commands to me concerning my children, God, as my loving heavenly Father, wants me to learn and do better, so He is ready to forgive me as I confess my sins to Him.

 

Over the last two weeks we have been discussing the family as part of our "Holy and Free" series. As Christians, we have a lot of freedom in Christ to choose the specifics of how wey will live within the parameters of pursuing holiness according to the commands and precepts of God’s Word. This is also true when it comes to the family. Each family will be different from every other Christian family in many specific areas, but every Christian must still fulfill the role that God has designed for them within those families. We have already discussed the role of the wife, the role of the husband and the role of the children. This morning we will examine Ephesians 6:4 and the role of the parents.

 

I think most people understand and would agree that the radical changes that have occurred in our society over the last two generations have resulted in the family being in trouble. I pointed out in an earlier sermon that the 2000 Census figures show that only 52.8% of households are now headed by married couples. Single parent families now account for over a 1/4 of all households. Overall, 30% of children now born in the U.S. are to single mothers, with that figure rising to over 70% in some sub-cultures. These figures do not even count the number of children never born because the mother chose abortion instead of life for her child. Marriage rates have dropped as people delay marriage until later in life or never do get married. Divorce rates remain high.

 

This morning I want us to return to our Holy & Free series that I have delayed for the last 6 weeks so that we could look at the purpose of the church. Remember that our purpose here is to Glorify God by Making Disciples of Jesus Christ through Communicating New Life in Christ, Cultivating New Life in Christ, Caring for New Life in Christ and Celebrating New life in Christ. In our Holy & Free series we have already covered a lot of topics including as drugs, drinking, dancing, dress, music, entertainment, leisure, dating, courtship, marriage, and having children. Before we get into our exposition of the book of Philippians sometime next month. I want to expand on the subjects of marriage and children. There is a lot of freedom in the specifics of how a marriage might function and in the specifics of how children are raised, but there are also some very clear Biblical principles for both that we need to clearly understand if the specifics are to fit within Biblical parameters.

 

This morning we are going to be looking at the Scriptures to see what God says about children, both having them and raising them. It is fitting to do this today since we will be having a baby dedication later in the service.

 

This morning we will continue in the series of messages I have entitled "Holy & Free." We have been examining the scriptures to see what Biblical commands, principles and precepts apply to various areas of everyday life. Many people strive to live the Christian life bound by non-Biblical rules that not only steal the joy out of walking with Christ, but are often legalistic in that they define righteousness by standards that God did not set. Other people go to the opposite of extreme in which they view the liberty spoken of in 2 Cor. 3:17 or the freedom spoken of in Gal. 5:1 as license to do whatever they want. But neither is true.

 

I want to address the topic of A Father's Responsibility this morning because I will be in Florida on Father's Day and since I addressed the ladies last week, I wanted to give the men equal time.

"Mother's Day" was started in 1908 by Anna M. Jarvis of West Virginia, who by the way, was childless herself. She persuaded local churches to honor mothers. She worked to promote the idea, but actually became embittered as commercialism began to encroach on the holiday. What began as an encouragement to churches to express sincere thanks and honor to our too often "taken-for-granted" mothers in their vital role in raising godly offspring has turned into an obligation for everyone to buy a card, flowers, etc. for whoever. (I am still confused about which "mom" is to be honored - my wife, the mother of my children, or my mom for raising me, or maybe the grandmothers are to honor their daughters who are raising their grandchildren? This does not even get into the confusion of adding in adoptive moms, step-mom's, and foster care moms).

The Declaration of Independence states that one of the reasons for the formation of this country, this society we call "America" was to be able to engage in the "pursuit of happiness." And Americans are certainly engaged in that pursuit. Of course everyone seems to have their own twist to what will make them happy. For some it is money, others power, prestige or fame. Some just want a simple life without care, while others want to live in the fast pace life of the Rat Race. Some look for happiness within themselves, and others outside themselves. Some search for it in the accomplishments of man, others in the natural environment. And yet, with all this pursuing of this elusive state of happiness, there are so few who find it.

Today is "Father's Day" and I will be speaking about what it means to be a "real man" today. You men and boys need to pay close attention so you know what you are supposed to be. You young ladies also need to pay attention because these are the characteristics you should be looking for in the man you will marry someday. You married ladies also need to pay attention because these are the qualities you need to encourage your husband to aspire too. Please note I said, "encourage" and not "nag." Where you see that your husband lacks, you need to build him up, not tear him down.

Some years ago the Miss Manners column in the Newspaper made some interesting statements concerning Mother's Day in our modern society. It bears repeating because the situation has not gotten any better.

When a society abandons God's word as its standard of morality, then it will reap the consequences. The greatest threat to the family in our society is its dissolution through divorce. Our divorce rate is not high because families are decaying, our families are decaying because so many husbands and wives are following their own will instead of God's design for marriage and the family. This leads directly to family strife, divorce and then family dissolution. Divorce has a high cost financially, personally and for society since it erodes the foundation of a healthy society.

I first preached on this passage more than six years ago. James Dobson of Focus on the Family was using then the phrase "civil war" to describe the moral turmoil our nation was in. That is still a fitting description of what is going on between those still holding to a Judeao-Christian Ethic and those who have fallen under the influence of secular humanism which is the philosophy now controlling much of our governmental and school systems.

What the Bible Says about Divorce - Selected Scriptures.  The views of divorce range from allowing it for any reason at any time to not allowing it at all. The Bible has much to say about the issue (which would be expected since God created marriage). Pastor Harris explores the many relevant passages so that we might know God's commands and will on the issue instead of just yielding to our own thoughts and feelings.